Japan Post to take direct mail from Sagawa Express, Nippon Express+
Japan Post is set to launch a service to deliver direct mail commissioned by Sagawa Express Co. and Nippon Express Co., the nation’s second- and third-largest couriers, by the March 31 end of the current fiscal year, officials at the postal corporation said.
Japan Post will submit an application with the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications in early February for launching the service, the officials said.
Under the plan, the corporation will deliver direct mail for Kyoto-based Sagawa Express and Tokyo-based Nippon Express at low rates.
The two courier companies can make profits from the commission as they can get the difference between the fees they received from corporations for direct-mail delivery and the fees they will pay to Japan Post.
For the postal corporation, launched in April 2003 to take over the work of the governmental Postal Services Agency, the new delivery service is expected to boost revenues in its brochure and parcel division. Japan Post’s overall delivery operations are in the red.
The prospective tie-up between the postal corporation and the two courier firms marks an expansion in the entity’s cooperative relations with the private sector. It has already been in a tie-up with some major convenience store operators.
The commissioned business will also consolidate the nation’s direct-mail delivery market into two major forces — Yamato Transport Co. and the Sagawa Express-Nippon Express-Japan Post alliance.
In fiscal 2002 through March 31, 2003, Yamato Transport, the nation’s largest courier based in Tokyo, handled 606 million items of mail, followed by Sagawa Express at 120 million and Nippon Express at 60 million.
